


this road is ours

by owlaashi



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Multi, basically the ravens are just a group of rich ass fuckheads, lots of swearing, seth gordon is alive!, the foxes are still a fucking chaotic diaster, the street racer au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24755791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaashi/pseuds/owlaashi
Summary: the self proclaimed foxes, a group of misfits who work days at palmetto garage, have a lot of very fast cars, expensive taste and a yearning to cause trouble and what better way to involve all of those than street racing. but things aren't all fun and games. the ravens are notorious for winning at any cost and now that one of their best racers has taken up a home at palmetto, driving for the foxes their leader will do anything to get him back or shut him up. and then, this no named kid from some small unknown town shows up and almost beats one of the foxes best drivers though he feigns even knowing how to really handle his car. the foxes take him in, but soon learn that taking in every lost cause has a price and this one might be higher than any of them could even imagine.orthe street racer au no one asked for, chalk full of violence, drugs, alcohol and very expensive taste.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 11
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> basically i can't breathe without a new idea worming it's way into my goblin brain, and this idea was no different. it was supposed to just be an andriel fic, and then i opened discord and started talking and then an entire kerejean angle was spun and now it's a story about both pairs. the point of view is going to change a bit as the chapters go on, because really this is a story about the foxes as a whole so please bare with me on that! as always more tags will be added as things come up in chapters!
> 
> as always this was beta'ed by my lovely sparks ~
> 
> feel free to screech at me on twitter [@kittsukii](https://twitter.com/kittsukii)

_ Pop _ .

Allison chewed on her bubblegum, tapping a pen against the keyboard of her desk, her feet propped up on the empty chair to her left as a loud sigh fell from her lips. The arms of the clock seemed to be moving too slowly for her liking; there was an hour left to the work day before the night fun began. Another sigh tumbles from her lips, her neck falling back against the back of her office chair, annoyed. 

_ Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. _

“Bored?” A quiet voice asked with a friendly smile, a finger coming out to boop Allison on the nose. The returning look Allison gave her was enough of an answer. “Ah, impatience.” 

“Rude, Renee.” Allison scrunches up her face, as Renee leaves her line of sight, and instead walks toward the chair currently occupied by her feet. Without question she moves them and allows Renee to sit down, giving herself one spin in the chair before reaching for the mouse for her computer. “Like you're not.” 

“I’m not impatient, I'm excited. There’s a difference.” She clicks a couple things on the computer, without turning her attention back to Allison. 

The blond returns her attention to the last couple of objectives she has before the end of the day and sets about her work. There’s a few phone calls to make and a few emails to finish between the two of them, so Allison gets to work on the emails and Renee starts in on the phone calls. Between them they’re able to finish their work before the clock makes its way to the following hour. 

“They’ve been working on the cars for the past two hours, we’ll make it in time.” Renee breaks the silence, casting a glance over at Allison, causing her to pause halfway between clicking her pen. 

“We better.” 

The door to the office opens up and Abby walks out with the key to the front door in her hands, a smile on her face as she passes the two girls. Abby Winfield, the office manager for Palmetto Garage and girlfriend to the owner David Wymack, she was an average looking woman with light brown hair and brown eyes but was as nice as anyone could imagine. “You girls can clock out, Wymack says to lock the garage doors when you leave.” Her key turns in the lock, and she flips the open sign in the window to closed. “And please be careful, just because I used to be a nurse doesn’t mean I want to be setting breaks every night.”

Allison and Renee nod their heads as Abby heads back into her office, and clock out as soon as her door is closed. With their computers closed down, the two blonds grab their things from the safe under their desk, and head through the door that attaches the front office to the main garage. 

“Alright you fucks, we got races to win.” Allison announces, as her and Renee walk through the garage to the door leading to the back parking lot. 

“We know, Kevin hasn’t shut up for the past two hours.” 

“Dan banished him to the garage an hour ago, the Monsters are with him.” 

“We couldn’t get anything finished.” Dan says, wiping her hands on a towel as she walks over to the center of the main garage. “He’s worried about Aaron’s car, there was way more damage than we thought when we first started on it.” 

That put a visible sour look on Allison’s face, even stopped her mid step. 

A week and a half ago was the last race they’d been in, Aaron had a race against one of the drivers from their rivals The Ravens, and it had ended badly. Somehow in between when they’d last checked the car to when the race started someone had gone in and cut the brake lines. Halfway through the race, Engle had gotten in front of Aaron's car causing him to brake to avoid hitting him before he could move away, but the brakes didn’t work and the next thing they knew Aaron lost control of his car. Luckily he was able to regain control of his car long enough to wrap the back end around a telephone pole. 

“Clock out and meet the rest of us in the garage, we can’t be late.” Allison grabs Renee’s arm and the two of them leave to cross the back parking lot. Their cars and Wymacks are the only ones back here, but she walks past hers and Renees and instead heads toward the large garage set a few hundred yards from the main one. 

This garage is just as bright white and orange as the one attached to the main office, this one, however, is where The Foxes street team reside. Every one of Wymack’s employees hold and race in illegal street races in their spare time and he’d been kind enough to loan his extra garage to them. 

Wymack had taken in each and every single one of his employees off the street when no one else would give them a second chance. From criminal pasts, to drug addictions, to broken families he’d given them a place to learn a skill to give them a life. He hadn’t batted an eye when he’d found out what they were up to in their spare time, instead he’d fished a spare key out of his pocket and told them to move their operation into his spare garage. 

Palmetto garage was a relatively small shop compared to the bigger ones located around town, and they usually lost business when someone found out about one of their pasts. A few years ago Palmetto garage almost turned belly up, not making enough money to make payments; that’s where their street racing came in, whatever money they’d made from racing they gave a large share to Wymack to help keep this garage open. 

They do these races as much for themselves as they do them for Wymack; if it weren’t for him believing in them there’s a good chance half of them would be in jail and the other half of them would be dead somewhere. 

“If I can’t drive tonight then have Renee do it. She’s more than capable and her car is fine.” Aaron huffs, leaning back against one of the cars with his arms crossed over his chest. There’s still some of the stitches left in his forehead from where he’d hit it, and his left wrist is still in a brace, but otherwise he looks just as annoyed as he usually does. 

“I don’t mind racing if I have to.” Renee offers with a smile, as she leaves Allisons side the second they step into the garage. “I haven’t raced in awhile, it’ll be nice to do it again.” 

“None of us should be, Aaron could have  _ died _ .” 

“Oh,  _ Kevin _ , Kevin,  _ Kevin _ aren’t we in this situation  _ because _ of you. Oh that’s right, we  _ are _ !” Andrew slid out from underneath Aaron's dark blue sport Subaru Impreza; the back passenger door was still dented in, the paint hadn’t been fixed yet, and the trunk still couldn’t open. “And didn’t I  _ say _ that I would keep us safe? Did all that vodka rot your memory?” His head tilts to the left, eyes unblinking as he stares down Kevin. 

“That’s kind of a risk with street racing isn’t it? It’s not like a quarter mile is made to press ninety in a souped up Subaru. I coulda lost control even if I had breaks, idiot. We gotta race.” 

“You wouldn’t have.” Allison comments as she comes up to stand beside Aaron, her bags forgotten near the office door. “But he’s right, it’s a risk everyone takes and we do need to race. We need the money, Wymack needs the money and we have to shove a tire iron up Riko’s ass if he thinks he’s managed to scare us out of racing.” 

Kevin makes a strangled noise, but the manic smile painting Andrew’s face increases in size. 

“She’s right! Wymack’s payment is coming up and we still don’t have enough to cover it, plus we,” Nicky, points between Andrew, Aaron, Kevin and himself as he comes out from the small office in this garage. “Need to pay our own rent. So suck it up, buttercups.”

Dan, Matt and Seth push the door open nearly as soon as Nicky finishes, They’re all covered in grease from working all day, and look dead tired. All three of them collapsed onto a few random chairs spread throughout this part of the garage, taking a moment before their second shift of the night began. 

Aaron and Kevin get to work on double and triple checking the tool boxes they keep in the back of the cars to assure everything they may need is in there; they didn’t want to end up stuck without something they needed at a race. Especially since the incident with Aaron’s car, who knows what kind of things Riko and his gang would pull. Andrew gives up working all together and disappears into Nicky’s office. Nicky and Allison start gathering some of their books to keep records in, and Seth has decided to strip down and change into his night clothes right in the middle of the garage. 

“Catch a quick nap on the way in, it’s at least forty-five minutes there.” Renee smiles, both hands clasped behind her back, a smile sent toward Dan and Matt. “Go freshen up, I'll make sure to avoid all the potholes on the way there.” 

“Has anyone ever told you you were sent here from Heaven?” Matt asked, already sounding like he’s ready to fall asleep. Dan shoves at his arm and sends a look toward the bathroom in the back. He grabs his bag, places a kiss on her forehead and heads back to change. 

“You’re racing tonight, then?” Dan asked once Matt shut the bathroom door behind him. “Is Aaron’s car not ready?” She glances a look behind Renee to where Aaron was finishing up his triple check of Andrew’s car. 

“Apparently it needed a lot more than we originally thought. There was more damage than just the break lines from what Andrew mentioned the other night, he thought they’d be able to get it all done today but clearly not.” 

“Twenty minutes to go time everyone!” Nicky’s already loud voice reverberates off the walls, making him seem so much louder than he actually is. 

At that the Foxes kick themselves into gear, Dan heads to change out of her work clothes, Seth and Matt do a final check of the cars before they leave, Allison and Renee take turns changing after Dan. Kevin and Aaron had already changed out, and both were working on loading some drinks in the trunk of Andrews BMW.

By the time their twenty minutes were up all three cars were ready to go: Allison and Seth in Seth’s car, Matt, Dan and Renee in Renee’s and Andrew, Kevin, Aaron and Nicky in Andrew's. The drive from Palmetto Garage to the meeting stop for tonight's races was a short 45 minutes away; relatively close to home compared to the ones they usually try to go to. Considering most of them use their day cars for races makes it harder to race near home when the threat of cops is always looming above their heads. 

_ ( Especially Allison and her pink fucking Porsche. ) _

The meeting spot was located near an old condemned building that had been boarded up years ago. It blocked the back end from the main street, but opened up onto a quarter mile of untouched road. Plenty of exists through side streets located between this building and the next, should the need arise. It’s not the best spot to race, the ground is uneven in places, more cement than tar, and the trees surrounding half of the quarter mile made for some interesting crashes. 

But the Catamounts who were holding the race tonight didn’t care about the other racers; they spend a majority of their time racing in the cement of abandoned buildings, so for them this was nothing. The majority of racers raced on tar roads and even surfaces. Having a race here was almost a sure fire way for the Catamounts to rake in the money tonight watching their competitors spin out and lose control on sand and gravel or dent a bumper or blow a tire on the pot holes. 

By the time the Foxes arrive there’s already a large group of people surrounding the many cars parked under the bright street lights. Cars on cars on cars littered the empty parking lot from hand built cars to purchased cars to cars won in high stakes races. If you wanted to see a specific car you were sure to see it parked here. The amount of people that come to watch the races is unbelievable, if they liked the thrill of watching the race they should try being  _ in _ it. 

Andrew is the first to park his car about thirty feet away from another group of vehicles, the rest of the Foxes follow his lead. Seth is the first one out of his vehicle, however, the trunk already popped and he is set to work in retrieving what he’d need for the night. Allison and the rest of the foxes step out of their respective cars shortly after, all with their race faces plastered on. 

This evening they had two races, Renee was up in the beginning of the night where Andrew would be racing later. Both races were for money. 

“Doesn’t look like they’re here tonight.” Kevin slips his hands into the black bomber jacket he’s wearing, as he glances around, moving his head this way and that. He sort of looks like a chicken. 

Andrew doesn’t even make a face, if Kevin didn’t know Andrew he might have thought he’d been ignored. The blond leans against the hood of his car, clenching and un-clenching his fists before pulling on a pair of black, fingerless leather gloves. A lit cigarette appears almost magically in between his fingers. 

Nicky disappears to find out when their races were going to start, and pay their entrance fee for Renee and Andrew; Matt trudged after him to keep an eye on him. 

For the majority of the races the Foxes hang back around their cars, only keeping their social circle to themselves. After the incident with Aaron’s car they don’t trust anyone, and it wasn’t even like they trusted anyone before this. But now they closed ranks even more. 

As race time approached cars began to line up, people started to get loud, the sun was finally setting. Adrenaline was pumping through everyone of the Foxes veins as the cars engines revved and the tires squeaked on the pavement. Race after race they watched, leaning against their cars and thoroughly unimpressed with the outcomes. The smallest change in terrain throws all the competitors for a loop, leaving the Catamounts to win nearly every race. 

Renee’s race was up next, she’d already moved her car up into the lineup toward the end of the last race. Her charcoal gray sport Honda Civic sitting pretty tight in the middle of the lineup. One of the cars belongs to the Catamounts, one of them is a Jackdaw car and the other two don’t seem familiar to any of the Foxes as they watch on. 

A Honda Civic might not look like much, but when you look at Renee she doesn’t seem like that much either; another polite girl with a quiet voice with a cross around her neck. But underneath that smile she’s a sharp edge, fast and willing, to slice up anyone who threatens her friends. Her car is much like that, not much on the outside but under the hood is an entirely different story. Renee could race her Honda with any car out here, where she might not have the same engines the others do she has far more brains than any of them combined. 

When the flag comes down they’re all off, pressing down on the accelerators, propelling their cars forward. Renee’s not in first, but it’s easy for her to press ahead of the person immediately ahead of her, in the movement the other car's driver hits a patch of sand and gravel causing him to lose control momentarily. The blond takes advantage and puts more space between them as she moves onto the next one; this one takes a bit of back and forth, she pulls ahead and then they do and so on. 

Allison and Dan are yelling for Renee despite the fact that they cannot be heard from inside the car nor over the roar of the engines and screams of the fans. Matt and Nicky join in soon after, rooting for their girl. 

Finally Renee is able to pull ahead of the car and all that’s left between her and winning is the Catamount car that keeps sliding from one side of the road to the other in a show, kicking up dust in its wake. She doesn’t let it get to her, and instead focuses on the time between sliding from the left and to the right. Then without a second thought presses down harder on her accelerator as soon as the car passes in front of her. The sand causes her to lose traction, but she catches herself quickly enough to pass the finish line five seconds before the Catamount car.

The yelling turns into boos as Renee makes her way back to her parking spot between Andew’s and Seth’s cars. There is going to be a bath in her car's future, dust and sand stuck to every inch of her car. When she steps out she’s pushed back into her door frame by a hug from Allison. Dan is not far behind her, joining Allison in hugging the smaller blonde. “Renee that was amazing!” Allison pressed a giant kiss to her cheek before untangling her arms. 

“It was nothing, he was getting cocky and made a mistake. All I did was take advantage of that fact.” She smiles, and steps between Dan and Allison to free herself some the space. “Andrew, the sand isn’t as bad on the right side that’s why they’re favoring it.” 

Andrew nods in her direction before he gets into the drivers’ seat of his Black BMW M5 Aaron and Kevin move out of the way, allowing Andrew to pull out from his spot and head over to line up for the race. There are four cars in this race as well, the Catamount car is, of course, to the far right, then his BMW, beside him a stark white Mitsubishi EVO that Andrew hasn’t ever seen before, and another Jackdaw car to the far left. 

Both of his hands wrap around the steering wheel, unfurling his fingers only to curl them right back around the steering wheel as he waits for the flag to come down. Winning the race isn’t what matters to him, what matters to him is being able to drive, and to drive  **fast** . The feeling of winning does nothing for him, the adrenaline that he gets isn’t from crossing the finish line; it's from the rev of the engines, the rumble of the ground from the cars of the people. Hazel gold eyes zone in on the flag, watching in almost slow motion, as it comes down signalling the start. 

His lead foot presses down on the accelerator, quickly gaining the upper hand right off the bat.; not a surprise considering the cars he’s up against, the only one that would have even a fraction of a shot is the Evo to his left. Andrew’s focus stays on the road in front of him as he swerves to the right to throw off the Catamount car coming up on him; it works, the driver has to swerve to avoid crashing his car. With that car out of the way he can focus more on the white Evo that keeps inching closer in his side mirrors. 

“Fuck off.” Andrew turns his wheel to the left to close in on the Evo, drifting dangerously close to colliding with it. He is more confident in his ability to hand his car than he is in the mystery driver's ability; but still he doesn’t turn away, just barely moves to the left but still close enough that if Andrew were to stick his hand out his window he’d be able to brush the tips of his fingers against the window. 

Andrew licks at the front of his teeth, eyes narrowing at the, possibly metaphorical, balls of the driver of the Evo. One one hand he applauds them, but on the other it pisses him off that this driver has made him  _ care _ about the outcome of the race. 

Both cars get into a battle of first and second, whenever Andrew would pull ahead it was a second or two before the Evo pulled ahead; the entire last hundred yards were spent like this until Andrew let him get ahead. Golden hues glinting in the light as he waits for the slight deceleration of the car, and then he presses the accelerator onto the floor and watches as the white of the Evo disappears behind him. The BMW pulls across the finish line, though just barely. 

After the entire car passes the finish line, Andrew cuts across the front of the Evo and presses on the gas to head back to where the rest of the Foxes are waiting for him. No doubt Nicky and Matt have gone to collect their winnings for the night, the rest of them are most likely packing up the other two cars — hanging around after the end of the race is never a good idea. Not to mention that all have work in the morning. 

As soon as the BMW pulls up to the Foxes he throws the car in park and jumps out of his car, eyes glued to the white Evo that’s pulling up on the side of him. 

The last time that Andrew had seen someone drive like that, with no regard for safety was when Nicky had shown him a video of a race that  _ Andrew _ himself had done. Who in  _ fuck _ was this driver coming in and making Andrew give a fuck about this race? 

Andrew has a scowl on his face, eyes narrowed in the direction of the drivers side door, watching as it opens up. The first thing that emerges is a mop of brown hair that catches in the lights above them, tied back with a bandanna to keep the longer pieces away from their face. He sees broad shoulders and can tell that his arms are fairly muscular from the way they move against the fabric of his shirt. When he turns around, his brown eyes melt something deep in Andrew, they hit something that dislodges a feeling he hasn’t let himself feel in  **_years_ ** . 

“You  _ have _ to race with us. I haven’t seen Andrew race like that in, in, in I don’t know. Months?  _ Years _ probably. What’s your name?” 

Kevins’ voice is a shock to Andrew’s system, and whatever feeling was dislodged is soon forgotten instead in favor of drinking in what just came out of the taller man's mouth.  _ Race with them _ ? He could not imagine giving a fuck every single time he drove in a race. Never mind having to deal with someone who has just as little regard for himself as Andrew does; he doesn’t even want to deal with himself, never mind having to deal with someone that might be like him. 

By now the rest of the Foxes are surrounding them, even Nicky and Matt have come back a large envelope tucked under Nicky’s arm. They both have questioning looks, but they zone in on the white Evo that just barely lost to Andrew. 

A nervous laugh is the first sound heard, his right arm comes up to scratch behind his head. “I’m Neil. Neil Josten.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Andrew is unhappy. 

Well, that is to say that Andrew is ever  _ happy _ in the first place. Even since before he’d come to Palmetto Garage he’d been at a constant impasse of feelings. The only emotion that Andrew ever shows is apathy, with a small little bit of anger or annoyance, but mostly just apathy. 

So, Andrew is  _ mostly _ apathetic, maybe a little annoyed. 

Kevin, on the other hand, is ecstatic. Today was the day that Neil Josten was coming down to Palmetto Garage to sign his employment paperwork with Wymack. It hadn’t taken much more than a phone call to Wymack on the way back explaining that Andrew almost lost to him to get Wymack to agree to give him a job. To be fair, Kevin could have just asked to have him hired and Wymack would have agreed — Kevin Day tends to get what Kevin Day wants.

What had  **really** gotten Andrew annoyed this morning, well all night, was that Kevin was able to  **_tell_ ** that Andrew  _ cared _ about the race last night, and Andrew never cares. When he got behind the wheel to race he could care less about the outcome, all he cared for was the way going over eighty miles per hour made him feel  _ something _ . But in a half a second it took that stupid kid in his stupid car to make Andrew  _ care _ whether or not he won or lost. 

When Kevin Day caught a whiff of something like that he didn’t let it go, in fact, he’ll take it to the grave with him, because that’s where Andrew is going to send him if he continues to bring it up. Andrew can see it in his eyes every time he looks over in his direction. It’s infuriating. ( _ Okay, maybe Andrew is more than just a little annoyed _ ). 

This is just another prime example of Kevin Day getting what he wanted, he always said he wanted Andrew to care about racing and now, apparently, he’s gotten his wish.  **That fucker.**

Sometimes Andrew understood exactly why Kevin was a Raven, the rich of the rich, fast cars, money, expensive clothes, the confidence to do whatever they wanted because they knew they would get away with it. Because they knew they’d win in any situation. Winners. Glorified. Looked after. The tics come out every once in a while, the turn of the nose at something he doesn’t agree with, the insistence that they follow his lead, the bark of orders while they’re getting ready for a race. 

Then there are times like now where Kevin has the giddiness of a child finally being told he can have that ice cream after dinner. Or when he’s sitting slouched on the couch, a bottle of vodka in his hand. Even when he’s covered in grease, underneath a car working for eight hours a day, that Andrew can’t find an ounce of the Raven he used to be. 

There’s a full garage of work to be done but all Andrew can do is sit in the corner on a stool, picking some grease out from around his nails with one of his pocket knives. Kevin had disappeared into the office to talk to Wymack about, presumably, their new hire which left the rest of the mechanics to pick up the slack for two of their co-workers. From where Andrew is sitting he’d got a perfect view out the two sets of windows; one separating the garage from the front desk and waiting area, and the second separating the waiting area from the outside. This Neil Josten character is already ten minutes late by Andrews watch, which doesn’t exactly exist but he’s developed an amazing sense of time by now. 

By the looks of it Kevin’s noticed too, he’s pacing in front of Allison and Renee’s desk. Every so often his head ducks to look out the window on the door, eyes no doubt darting around the street in front of the garage for the white Mitsubishi Evo that they’d seen last night. If there’s one thing Kevin hates more than Andrew’s smart remarks is tartiness. ( _In some other life he’d had to have been an awful teacher, giving away detentions left and right or locking students outside of the classroom_ ). 

“Since you’re not actually working, you can bring these to the front.” Dan’s voice breaks Andrew from his thoughts, a set of keys attached to a piece of paper dangling in front of him. There’s some greased fingerprints on the edges of the paper, but overall the keys are clean. 

Andrew snatches the keys from her hands at the same time he sheaths the pocket knife he’d been playing with earlier. When he dismounts the chair, he’s sure to send enough force to knock it back into the wall, the noise echoing off the walls causing at least three of the mechanics to turn in his direction. The blond gives them a two-finger salute and a nasty smile as he heads toward the door to the office. 

“Aye, Princess.” The door hits the opposite wall, Andrew doesn’t seem to care when he catches one of the clients in the waiting room startle at the noise. Neither blond turns their attention to him, so he waves the paper and keys over Allison’s head when the door is fully closed again. 

Allison huffs, indignant, at the paper in front of her face, but snatches it away with her neon pink, perfectly manicured nails. Glancing at the names and numbers on the paper she types some of the information in her computer, before calling for one of the clients in the small waiting area. 

Andrew ignores her now that his job is finished, instead, leaning his elbows on the top counter to the right of where Allison is, watching as Kevin is, once again, peering out the window like a kid waiting for his parents to arrive home. Silently he’s hoping that this kid doesn’t show up, at least then he won’t have Kevin breathing down his back, giddy with the fact that Andrew might actually  _ care _ about something.  _ Good riddance Neil Josten.  _

Just as Andrew’s about to open his mouth with a smart comment directed at the back of Kevin’s head, what can only be described as a Shit Heap on wheels pulls into the front parking lot. The car, if you could call it that, is so out of sorts it actually sends Andrew speechless. It’s easily three, maybe four, different colors; a beige hood, one singular red door on the drivers’ side, the other three doors are blue, front what Andrew can see the trunk  _ might _ be green. There’s the emblem of a Toyota on the front but the telltale doors and back bumper of a Honda. 

If Nicky were out here he’d screech at the sight, and for once Andrew would let him. 

But the real kicker is when the Shit Heap parks, the one red door opening and outcomes a head of boring brunette hair attached to a face with equally boring brown eyes; Neil fucking Josten. 

Andrew can barely see Kevin’s slack jaw reaction in the window’s reflection, but he sure as hell can  **feel** it. The aura radiating off of him had suddenly taken a turn, his entire mood souring when the driver of the car outside registers in his brain. 

Kevin’s entire day is ruined. 

Andrew’s entire day just turned around. 

“Oh,  _ Oh,  _ **_Oh_ ** Kevin.” Andrew sings, his manic smile growing on his face. “I think our new employee is here. Why don’t you go great him, yeah? You’ve been waiting  _ all _ **day** for this.” His feet carry him out from around the desk and over to where Kevin is standing at the door. “Come on now, it’d be  _ rude  _ not to.” One hand turns the handle to the front door as his other shoves Kevin from the middle of his back out the door and into the South Carolina sun. 

Kevin turns to send a look in Andrew’s direction but the only thing he’s met with is Andrew waving at him through the open door. 

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding right?” Kevin spins on his feet, glaring at Neil and his Shit Heap, “What the  _ fuck _ is this? What about the Evo? What…. _ How _ ….” He can’t even begin to finish his sentence, the last of it dying off as a noise in the back of his throat. 

“Yeah, about that.” Neil begins, scratching at the back of his neck. “See, I needed to get my car fixed, but it cost way more than I have on hand right now so I sorta bet the mechanic that I could win the race last night. He let me borrow his car, and if I won he’d fix mine for free….” Both Neil’s hands find their way into the pockets of his jean shorts. “But clearly I  _ didn’t _ win, though I almost did.” 

“Absolutely-fucking-not.” Kevin decides, head shaking back and forth. “No, I’m sorry, but this,” He gestures to the Shit Heap. “No. No. Absolutely not.” 

Wymack had emerged from his office shortly after the arrival, most likely trying to figure out what Allison had shrieked at ( it was the jorts Neil was wearing and  _ not _ his car ). He’d come up behind Andrew, a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth as he stares at the car parked outside of his shop. “What the fuck is that?” 

“Excuse me, but if my car didn’t need to be fixed I could still beat you in a race!” Neil shoots back at Kevin, slapping a hand on the roof of his car and immediately wincing, afraid that something was going to fall off. 

“ _ Excuse me _ ?” Kevin scoffs, waiting for a piece of the car to fall apart after the slam to the roof as well. “You could not, that thing is a piece of shit.” 

“Yes, but she’s  _ my _ piece of shit.” 

That causes a slight twitch of Andrew’s lips. For all the bullshit Kevin’s been throwing at him since the ride back from the race last night is finally coming full force back at him. Justice, if Andrew believed in the word. 

“This is the kid you mentioned last night?” Wymack finally breaks his observation and steps around Andrew to get outside. Neither of the boys speaks, they stand there and watch as Wymack walks around the car slowly, taking in every mix-matched piece of metal, he kicks at all four of the tires as he makes his way over to the drivers’ side. Without asking he reaches inside to pop the hood of the car, and just as silently as he’d been inspecting he opens the hood. There’s only a moment of silence before he beckons Kevin over. “Just because the outside is a piece of shit, doesn’t mean the inside is.” 

From where Andrew’s standing he’s unable to see over them and inside the car, but from the look on Kevin’s face it doesn’t seem to be good news; for either of them, but mostly for Andrew. Either the kid has an impressive set-up under the hood, which means that he probably could have beat Kevin in a race, or at least almost beat him; however, it also meant that the kid  _ could _ race and would still be an immense pain-in-the-ass in that Kevin wouldn’t shut up about Andrew  _ caring _ again.

“Renee!” Wymack calls out, louder than needed since the door was open. “Get Nicky and have him bring this piece of garbage into the garage and get started on fixing whatever it is that needs fixing.” As quickly as Renee had come up behind Andrew she’d disappeared through the door leading into the garage. 

“Uh, sir, what are you…?” Neil asks, looking between his car and Wymack, a questioning look on his face. “I don’t have the kinda money to fix it, that’s why I — “

“This is what’s going to happen. We’re going to fix up your garbage can, and you’re going to pay us back by working here. Cleaning up the front office, helping the girls and restocking things in the garage, ya’understand?” The cigarette that was previously hanging from his lips is stubbed out on the ground near his foot. “And since it looks like you’re living out of your car, you can stay with my girlfriend and I. We have a spare room, you can help out around the house until you can find your own place. No discussions. Let’s go sign some papers.”

Both Kevin and Andrew stare after Wymack as he heads back inside, not even waiting for Neil to follow after him; after all, he had said no discussions. Neither of them moves a muscle. Andrew doesn’t move, well, simply because Andrew doesn’t care, and also a little because Kevin still has that look on his face. The one where he isn’t sure whether he’s going to scream or whether he’s going to punch something and Andrew wants to know which one it’s going to be. 

Kevin kicks the front passenger tire of the ShitHeap so hard it dislodges the pole holding up the hood, causing it to slam down back into place. 

Andrew’s decision to stick around was satisfied; the latter then. “I’m not fixing that.”

Kevin sends a glare in Andrew’s direction before he’s turning all his attention on Neil who is now staring between his car and Kevin in disbelief. “Are you  _ deaf _ ?” He asks, snapping his fingers in front of Neil’s face. “He said no discussions, so don’t keep him waiting. Go.” 

It’s as if Neil had forgotten all about earlier, his eyes widen and shoulders stiffen up at the reminder. He takes a couple looks between his car and the doorway, probably wondering whether leaving his car with Kevin was a good idea. After the assault on the vehicle, Andrew wouldn’t blame him, Kevin still looks like he’s going to lose the last remaining sanity he has. 

For as little as Andrew has said, and as quiet as he’d made himself this entire conversation it has apparently not been enough. Neil’s got something in the palm of his hand, finally heading inside to sign the papers for Wymack; he makes a pit stop in front of Andrew. One eyebrow raises momentarily before his entire body tenses; Neil’s open palm presses into the center of Andrew’s chest on his way into Wymack’s office. As fast as the palm was there it’s gone, leaving the keys to the ShitHeap in their wake, falling to his waist before Andrew regains composure and catches them. 

He allows himself a few seconds to steady himself, to calm his pulse before pushing off of the door frame to walk over to where the eyesore of a car is parked. Andrew spins the key-ring around his index finger, ignoring the way Kevin glares at him; it’s not like Kevin wanted to get inside away, he could only imagine what he’d do if he had to drive it into the garage. Andrew slams the door a little harder than he needed to as he gets into the drivers’ side, stopping the spinning of keys to start the engine. 

It sounds smooth at first, a clean humming before it turns into a roar. Andrew can hear the faint thumping from under the hood, probably indicating an issue with the engine. There’s no cool air coming from the AC, the windows aren’t even electric, and it looks like there’s a bloodstain on the passenger side floor. The longer that the engine is running the worse it sounds, hazel eyes catch sight of the face Kevin is making at the continuous loud thumping; they both know this is going to be a hell of a fix. If Seth isn’t able to figure out what is making the engine make this noise, they’re going to have to put in a new one. That is  _ never  _ fun.

Wanting to get out of this car as fast as he’s able, Andrew throws the car into drive, winces when the car makes a grinding noise and heads around the back of the building to the open garage doors. He drives it into one of the open sections of the garage, ignoring the looks he’s getting as he places it in park and removes the keys with a shudder.

“What the fuck is this?” Seth’s voice booms from a few spaces over, wiping his grease-covered hands on his pants. “Who the hell lets their car get like that?” Now there’s clear disgust in his voice the closer he gets. 

Seth is, as Nicky calls him, the Engine Whisperer. It seems that no matter what car comes in here Seth is able to tell exactly what’s wrong with it without much to do, after all, he is the only one of them that actually grew up around cars. His father was a mechanic that worked out of their family garage, Seth often spending his spare time in there with him, learning which tool was which and what it was used for from a young age. Then as he got older began to work on the cars with his father. 

This was going to be a job for Seth. 

“Wymack’s new charity project.” Andrew tosses the keys over his shoulder as he walks toward where Aaron has stopped working on an oil change as the sound of the new car coming in. There’s no sound of keys hitting the ground, so Andrew assumes that someone caught them. 

“Another one?” Aaron rolls his eyes, glancing back at the tray beneath the car, catching the old oil from the car. 

“This one courtesy of Kevin.” 

This time it’s Dan that makes a choked noise, and the only one to understand the gravity of that statement. “You’ve gotta be kidding! What happened to the car from last night?” Her eyes go wide as she really takes in what this car looks like, the mix-matched parts, the colors. 

“Listen up!” Wymack steps through the door from the main office, breaking up any questions the other mechanics might have had. “Over the next couple weeks in between our actual paying work and your races, we’re going to be fixing up that piece of shit. There are to be no complaints, whatever needs to be done gets done.” He waits half a second, for a response he knows he won’t get. Wymack knows that his Foxes know what he says goes. “This is Neil, and he’ll be working here from now on.” Taking a step to the side, he reveals Neil, standing there with his hands shoved into his pockets with a sheepish look on his face. He looks nothing like the man he was the night before, last night he was confident even though he lost, the way his eyes crinkled when he’d introduced himself. Now though, now he was awkward, seemingly trying to cave in on himself. 

Andrew wasn’t even sure that they were the same person. 

Over the next couple of days, the Foxes were busy, to say the least; between fixing Neil’s car and working on the vehicles that the shop needed doing, they didn’t exactly have time left over for much else. On top of that Renee and Allison were the only two that got to interact with Neil in any way, and while they two of them constantly assured that he was kind and helpful it did nothing to soothe the rest of them. 

There was no race this week, which was, for once, helpful to them. 

It meant that they’d finally have time to let loose of the frustrations they’d been dealing with this week. They had a plethora of them.

Seth had been spending every free, waking second of his day trying to pinpoint what was wrong with Neil’s ShitHeap. Although, at this point, it’d be safe to say Seth was trying to figure out what wasn’t wrong with the car. Even when he’d figured out one issue, another one would pop up, causing him to be so annoyed that he even snapped at Allison. 

Dan and Matt had been obsessively looking around at local junkyards, and some of their cheaper connections to find all match parts for the car, even if Neil wasn’t sick of looking at his car they all were. 

Kevin was still annoyed from the first day of Neil’s arrival; how was he supposed to race against someone with an actual car with a garbage can on wheels? Also, how was he supposed to get Andrew to care about racing if the one person that brought out the sliver of care Kevin’s been searching for drives around in a Shit Heap,

Nicky, Aaron and Andrew were maybe the only three not directly affected by Neil’s arrival. While Andrew hated his existence until he showed any sort of race potential he wasn’t about to waste the little energy he had on thinking about it. Aaron just didn’t care about much of anything or anyone unless it had a direct connection to him, and Neil was about as unconnected to Aaron as a stranger on the street. As for Nicky, sure he was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to book for another racer, it’s not like he’d gone out and bragged about getting someone new.

Surprisingly enough the end of the workday on Friday came about much quicker than any of them had anticipated. Nicky had gone out on his break to purchase the alcohol for the night while they’d sent Dan out to pick up snacks on hers; they were nearly ready, all they needed was their normal pizza order, Wymack and Abby to leave and for the clock to move the last 30 seconds before they can all clock out. 

“You.” Andrew’s voice cuts into the quiet main office, causing Allison to startle in her seat. He’s pointing at where Neil was tying up a trash bag, blue eyes widened slightly at the interruption. 

“Oh  _ absolutely  _ not.” Abbey peaks her head out of the office, sending a no-nonsense look at Andrew. “Neil better not come home with a hair out of place, Andrew. I mean it.” 

“I’ll make sure of it.” Renee smiles sweetly over at Abby, cutting in before Andrew has a chance to say something else. She’s well aware of Andrew’s methods, and so is Abbey. “I’ll drive him home later.” 

Despite the narrowing of her eyes, she seems to think over Renee’s words weighing the pros and cons of potentially leaving Neil with the Foxes for the night. “Only if Neil wants to.” 

Three sets of eyes turn on Neil, pinning him in place. This would be the first time that he’d be spending any amount of time with the rest of his co-workers since he’d showed up a couple of days ago. Renee and Allison were the only two aside from Wymack and Abbey that he’d gotten to know. “I’ll be fine Abbey.” He sends her a smile; it makes Andrew want to vomit. 

She nods once, twice and then retreats into the office to grab her things. When she emerges she locks the door behind her and heads for the front. “I mean it, all of you. If he comes home with a hair out of place.” Her thought doesn’t continue in verbal form, Neil smiles at her and she seems to resign to leaving him. “Make sure to lock up when you guys are done, Renee.” With that she leaves through the front door, locking it before she leaves. 

Abbey’s departure signals the rest of the Foxes to begin clocking out and cleaning up the garage for the night. In a little under thirty minutes, they’ve managed to all clock out and tidy up most of the tools, put away all the half-open oil cans and return their various seating to their respective places. It’s not spotless by any means but it’s deemed good enough by Dan, so they all grab their belongings and begin heading to the second garage at the back of the property. 

Neil follows behind the group, his hands shoved into the pockets of his zip-up vaguely listening to the conversations going on in front of him. Up until this point Neil had been confined to the main garage for day to day operations, he’d remembered watching the others filter in and out, between the two garages throughout the day but had never been himself. From what Abbey had told him his second night staying with her and Wymack, was that the second garage was for the Foxes to prepare for races, and where they kept the three spare cars they had. She’d explained to him that she and Wymack didn’t ask too many questions, but they’d wanted them to be as safe as they could be, which is why they’d given them the space in the first place. 

Nicky’s the first through the doors, the lights soon flick on one at a time from the center of the garage outwards. The rest of the Foxes follow in after him, and head over to a spot to the far left, a bit away from one of the larger doors used to move cars in and out, to a space with old couches and chairs on top of a mess of different sized and colored rugs. There’s a coffee table in the middle, a few smaller tables spread out in a haphazard way. A couple of lamps surround the space, giving a little more light to the area, there’s another table off near the wall that’s lined with different types of alcohol and sodas. 

“Seth put on some tunes,” Allison calls out to Seth who is already walking over to a speaker set up with Matt to presumably decide what to listen to. “Neil c’mere.” She calls to him, patting the spot on the couch next to her, he follows her orders and sits down on the middle cushion. “So what’s your deal, hm?” 

“Huh?” Neil tilts his head to the left, looking in her direction. “My deal?” 

“Well, yeah. Not many people can beat Andrew and you just came out of nowhere and nearly beat him in a race.” Nicky announces as he shows up with two drinks in his hand, one of them is given to Allison, the other held out to Neil. 

“I don’t drink.”  _ When the hell had he made those? _ Nicky’s face falls at that, a proper pout forming on his lips that doesn’t fall as he walks over to hand the drink to Dan. 

The speakers begin to play some kind of music Neil has never heard of before in the background, loud enough to hear but not loud enough that it overshadows their conversations. Seth falls into the seat next to Neil, and suddenly not only are Allison's legs across his lap but the rest of the Foxes have fallen into their own seats around the snack covered table. Renee places a can of soda and a bottle of water in front of him, before perching on the arm of the chair Nicky is sitting in. 

They’re all looking at him. 

“C’mon then, what’s your deal. Most of us have been in the scene for a while. If you’re Kevin you’ve been in it since you were old enough to hold a set of keys. Which says something since infants can hold keys.” Nicky begins, taking a sip of something that looks so sweet it hurts Neil’s teeth. “None of us have even seen your face around before.” 

To be fair Neil’s face isn’t much, not anymore. His hair is dyed the most common shade of brown he could find in the store, and his eyes are just as common a shade of brown; even if they were to have run into each other at a race, it’s not like they’d remember him. His teeth make a habit of chewing his bottom lip, introductions are not something he’s good at even after all this time. Of course, this reason was one of the few that he’d tried to stay away from racing all these years, just joining in one every once in a while, never racing to his full potential. 

When he’d happened upon the race that night he didn’t expect the Foxes to have been there; he’d heard about the accident one of their racers had two weeks back and he assumed they weren’t ready to come back out. That was the only reason he’d ended up staying and racing. The Foxes, who Neil was familiar with, were now the home of Kevin Day who Neil was intimately familiar with. There was no way he could be racing around him, that would have been the definition of not laying low. 

But then of course, because Neil’s life hasn’t been simple in about five years now, he ended up racing with Andrew, he ended up staying and racing even though he’d found out the Foxes were there. To make it even worse Kevin had asked him to race with them, to join their little group, to feel the thrum of the engine that he’d been missing. How could he have said no when racing had been his entire life? How could he turn down racing with Kevin again? Neil had had to fight the itch for so long he’d gotten tired of beating it down. 

“Hello, Earth to Neil?” Allison waves a hand in front of his face, quirking a brow at him. She’s not the only one, Neil can see that everyone but the twins are looking at him oddly; Aaron isn’t even looking at him at all, too concerned with his phone and Andrew is looking at him like he’d just been giving the worlds most boring and pointless lecture. 

“I guess I don’t really have a deal? I always liked cars growing up, was always fascinated with going fast so when I could afford it I started working on getting a car and fixing it up and well…” He trails off with a shrug. “I didn’t really race much before, too small a town. But I’d find places to just go  _ fast _ on my own.” 

Everyone is quiet for a long while but that’s all Neil is giving away. He says so in the form of taking a sip from his now open can of soda, holding it just behind where Allison's’ legs are still on his lap. 

“Okay.” Nicky seems to accept what Neil’s given them. 

“What? That’s bullshit.” Kevin blurts out, looking directly at Neil like he’d just told him he’d been the one to kill his grandmother. “There’s no fucking way you can race like that from what you’d just said. That takes,” He makes an exasperated noise, almost spilling some of the liquid in his cup. 

“Aw, Kevin’s jealous that someone has more talent then he does.” Seth offers, there's a mock sad look on his face which only stays for a few seconds before he’s laughing. “C’mon, Day, not everyone needs to be groomed to be good like you were.”

Kevin’s eyes narrow at Seth’s words, opening and closing his mouth as if he’s trying to decide what should come out of it next. Eventually, he decides on a simple, “Fuck You.” and then downs the remaining liquid in his cup without making a face. 

“Well, we’re happy to have ya’ here, Neil!” Matt smiles all goofy at him and raises his drink. “If you need anything at all or have any questions Dan and I are here for ya’.” 

Neil gives Matt a small nod of his head and holds his drink up in a salute before taking another sip of the soda in his hands. 

“So, are you an idiot or an idiot?” Seth turned to look at Neil, a serious look on his face, the beer bottle in his hand hanging half over the arm of the couch. 

Neil takes a second to contemplate his answer, pursing his lips before finally settling on. “Definitely the second one.” 

Aaron snorts from where he’s still glued to his phone, though he’s finished his first beer by this point.

“I figured as much.” Seth takes a long sip from his beer bottle; Neil waits for the rest of Seth’s statement. “Tomorrow you’re with me, I’m going to show you all the ways you fucked your engine.” 

Neil’s shoulder falls, that engine he put in his car cost a lot more than he’d be willing to admit out loud again, and to hear he’d gone and fucked it up. Sure, Neil was good at driving cars but he was never really good at fixing them; they’d had people for that. Seth must notice the sudden change in Neil’s mood because he adds. “Wipe that fucking look off your face, I didn’t say it was dead, but you’re sure as fuck going to get your hands dirty fixing that mess you made.”

“He’s a bit of a genius,” Allison says mostly to Neil, although he's sure the wink she tacts onto the end was not met for him. 

The Foxes are surprisingly easy to get along with when they’re not trying to pry answers from Neil’s mouth. They’d tried a couple more times throughout the night but Dan and Matt were quick to shut it down, while Seth was quick to snap at Dan and Matt for treating him like a child. Both sentiments were nice; he rarely ever had people standing up for him like that, but he also likes that people know that if he’s uncomfortable he could say it himself. Allison and Renee are just as lovely to him as they are when they’re working, which is nice. Aaron and Andrew seem to keep mostly to themselves, Nicky and Kevin; which is fine, the farther he stays from Kevin the less likely he’ll be to have to leave. But Kevin sends a couple looks in his direction every once in a while, which could just be because he’s new and also because apparently he’d really pissed Kevin off when he showed up with his car (  _ Allison had told him that on Wednesday during lunch _ ). Nicky, on the other hand, tries to include Neil in every conversation that he has, which turns out okay until one of those conversations involves Aaron and then Neil gets the coldest look he’s ever received in his life. 

Most of their conversations are mundane ones, no one brings up work or racing. Allison has promised to take Neil shopping because she’s sick of looking at his ratty shirts with the holes in the bottom. Matt has promised to bring him to the gym with Dan the next time that they go, and Seth is a lot easier to get along with than his demeanor suggests; which is refreshing considering it seems the two of them are going to be spending a lot of time together working on his engine. 

“Alright you two.” Renee smiles, now standing in front of the table, looking between Allison and Seth; the two of them have had more than enough drinks since the night started. “Neil wanna help me get them to my car?” She asks, pointing to the Honda Civic. 

He hadn’t realized the time, but Matt and Dan are cleaning up, the music has stopped. It must have been later than he realized, apparently, time also flies when you’re sitting on a couch sipping soda while people talk around you. Neil files that away in some part of his brain. 

Placing his soda can on the table he nods and carefully pushes Allison’s legs off of him so Renee can hoist her up. Apparently that leaves him with Seth, who thankfully gets up on his own but stumbles over his feet a bit. Seth has a good foot on Neil who is just above five feet, how he’s supposed to get Seth into Renee’s car he isn’t sure. “Come on, let’s get you home.” A part of him wishes he could see himself, one arm on Seth’s back, the other holding his elbow, trying to herd him around the couch, and over the rugs without losing his or Seth’s balance. It must be funny because Nicky is pointing and laughing at them as Seth trips and nearly takes Neil down with him. 

After a grueling process, he gets Seth into the back seat of Renee’s car and buckles him in. Allison is making what Neil would call ‘bedroom eyes’ at him, he quickly shuts the door. Renee and Neil make it back to the garage to help throw the trash away and grab Allison and Seth’s bags. They bid their farewells for the night even though they’ll all see each other at some point the next day. 

As Renee and Neil turn to head back to Renee’s car, they’re stopped by Andrew who, despite not saying anything out loud, seems to say plenty to Renee in the look he gives her. She seems to return a look that conveys something to Andrew; Neil stands there a bit awkwardly glancing between the two of them, and holding onto the bag of Seth’s backpack like it’d help him leave this situation. Eventually, Andrew huffs but quickly recovers by sending a bone-chilling look in Neil’s direction. For someone that doesn’t say much, he’s sure able to convey a lot through a look alone, if only Neil were able to decipher what exactly he’s trying to say. 

Renee leads him out of the garage and over to her car; he shuts the passenger door and buckles himself in as she gets ready to pull out of the parking lot. It’s a quiet ride, which is fine for Neil, it gives him time to think. There are no connections here, he can make it another name on his ever-growing list of places he’s been, it doesn’t have to be permanent. It can’t be. Nowhere can really be a permanent place, and that’s  _ fine _ . As soon as things start to get fucky, he’ll be in his car and on the closest highway he can find. 

They drop Allison and Seth off first, it’s easier with the two of them helping the one person into their respective apartments; honestly, Neil is a little bit surprised that they don’t live together. But with them gone it’s just him and Renee in the car, and even though he’s worked with her all week there’s still something about her that throws him off. It’s almost as if Renee can see right through him, like she can see all his lies, makes note of them for later use; what really unnerves him is how she wouldn’t ever point them out. She’d just let him go on with his lies until he’s tripping over them too much. 

“I hope we weren’t too much tonight.” She smiles at him as she puts her car in park in front of Wymack’s house. “We haven’t gotten anyone new since Kevin, and that was about a year ago.” 

“It was…” Neil trails off, trying to think of the right words without giving away the fact that he’d been mostly on his own for the past few years. There’d been people every now and then, but mostly just himself and the open road. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.” 

Renee laughs, something gentle, like a bird song. “Well, I’m glad for that then.” She pauses at the same time Neil’s hand is on the door handle; the clock on her dash reads 1:45 am. “We all are really excited that you’re here.” 

For some reason, Neil feels like there’s something else in her statement that he isn’t meant to hear yet, a secret he’s meant to unlock through countless levels of work. Normally he’d leave it alone, there is no point in getting invested in something that won’t last. But…. _ but _ Neil can’t help the itch he feels. Like there’s an invisible third arm reaching out for more of Renee’s words. 

She doesn’t give, however, instead just unlocks the car doors and bids him a goodnight. Neil is left standing against the inside of the front door, running over her words again and again in his head, wishing he weren’t so afraid to talk to her. Something in her tone of voice made Neil want to unravel each and every one of the Foxes, to leave behind everything that he’d used as protection over the years. 

He squashes it all down instead and heads to the spare room to get some much-needed sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will have far more andrew/neil interactions, i just needed to set up a space for andrew to be able to size him up before going in for the, metaphorical, kill. this chapter took a lot longer than i wanted to get out, but i'm happy with it, i hope you guys are too !
> 
> feel free to yell at me on twitter [@kittsukii](https://twitter.com/kittsukii)
> 
> as always this chapter was beta'ed by the lovely sparks ~


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